96 Grand Prix SE...tranny issue!

[cockblocker]

Ahhh.... nice idea. I will def try that in the morning. I found the right firing order and I did indeed have the wires going to their respective cylinder....but she still runs like a crippled dog.

[cockblocker]

Well after thinking about the coil idea...is there a way that I could probe the coil? Like measuring it's resistance or something?

I ask because the way it was running last night when I finally went to sleep...I dont think I'd want to drive it the 8 miles to Advance.

Do you have any thoughts on what happened? I mean I just changed the plug wires, how could doing that cause all of this?

[cockblocker]

Ok, I pulled the front 3 plugs...4 and 6 had cracked insulators...never seen that before. Plus they smalt a bit like gas. Can a cracked ceramic cause the plug not to fire? I saw no carbon trails indicating a short.

EDIT: By a cacked insulator I mean the body of the plug..not the tiny part that surrounds the electrode tip commonly associated with severe detonation.

[sharkey]

that can cause it. if the spark is jumping out, it will not fire the plug.

[cockblocker]

So I got pissed and went to bed. This morning the wifes tells me that she's running to walmart, I tell her to get me some plugs...to spend about $3 a piece so she came back with Autolite platinums. After alot of cussing, and a little blood I had them all changed and I just now got back from a test drive. The cars runs sweet! I got rid of that tiny bit of hesitation from a stop, good mid-range accel, AND....and no more shudder up the hill of death. No this is preliminary, but everyhting looks good so far. I'll prolly go back to Advance on Monday and have them scan...mostly to clear the error I got last night.

Right now I'm fixing to change the oil and pull the driver tire off to check for the "heat-shield rattling" sound I've been hearing.

Oh yeah dam I almost forgot, Upon pulling the old plugs (which werent 4 months old TOPS!) I noticed that 2 were cracked...not down where the electrode is, but up on the body. And 1 came out in pieces. I dont know if that all was from me removing them or what...(well the completely broken one I know it's caused I removed it hard) but the other two have hairline cracks running the length of the body ceramic. not sure if thats related or not. I'll try to attach some decent pics, maybe ya'll can see it.